Road games in December are always adventurous for the Miami Dolphins because they are playing out of their weather element, but this Sunday will be a new experience for quarterback Ryan Tannehill.

Even though this is his second year in the National Football League, Tannehill has never played a game in snow and the forecast for Pittsburgh this Sunday is calling for possible light snow and rain with temperatures around 34 degrees. Last year as a rookie his two December games were at San Francisco, which was chilly but sunny with blue skies, and at the New England Patriots in the season finale. That time it had snowed quite a bit the night before but on the day of game it was just very cold with clear skies.

“If it’s snowing, I’ve heard it’s not too bad,” Tannehill said. It’s actually nice to play in it. From the guys that just in the locker room talking, Matt [Moore] played in the snow a few times. He said it’s nice. It doesn’t affect the ball.”

Apparently, the bigger concern is the wind according to Head Coach Joe Philbin and wide receiver Brian Hartline. Both of them downplayed the impact snow has on a game, with Hartline ranking snow last behind wind, rain and cold. He said cold is just a mindset and pointed out how tough it is to adjust to the ball in the air in windy conditions and Philbin agrees, saying snow is not the biggest problem.

“Usually the wind is the toughest thing to deal with at times,” Philbin said. “I don’t know that you can practice in the wind. The wind is more troublesome, I think, especially offensively more than anything else.”

It’s looking like Tannehill will be dealing with at least two of those elements at Heinz Field, possibly more.

VERNON SEES HIS SACK TOTAL INCREASE -- AGAIN

Defensive end Olivier Vernon saw his sack total go up after a game was played for the second straight week and he now has 10.5 on the season. The league credited him with a full sack on New York Jets quarterback Geno Smith last Sunday on the first defensive play after he and linebacker Philip Wheeler originally were each given a half sack, so he finished with three in the game instead of 2.5.

THIS AND THAT

The league announced the official kickoff time for Miami’s game against the Oakland Raiders next September 28th in London. The two teams will square off at 1 p.m. Eastern Standard Time, which is 6 p.m. in London, at Wembley Stadium. This is the second time the Dolphins will play a regular-season game in London as they were involved in the inaugural International Series game back in 2007 against the New York Giants. … It was another beautiful day outside, which meant the Dolphins saw fit to hold their entire practice outside rather than start inside the practice bubble for the second day in a row.

WEDNESDAY MUSICAL REWIND

That also meant the music that is played during warm-ups and stretching could be heard over the outdoor loudspeakers and it was rather nostalgic, starting with the official Miami Dolphins Fight Song. Then it was time for some old school Jackson 5 with “Dancing Machine,” before the music came back to the present with “Let’s Go,” by Calvin Harris.

THE LAST WORD

“He’s got a high motor and is getting after it. That’s the biggest thing when I talked to the media around here is that’s a guy that’s not getting as much attention as he probably needs to be, or the credit that he deserves. He’s playing at an extremely high level right now and we’re going to have to have eyes and attention on him.” – Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger on the play of Dolphins defensive end Olivier Vernon